The National Hockey League’s First All-Star Team includes a pair of first-timers – Jamie Benn of the Dallas Stars and Tuukka Rask of the Boston Bruins.

Rask already took home hardware from the NHL Awards, as he was named the 2014 Vezina Trophy winner as the league’s top goaltender. The 24-year-old Benn finished 12th in Hart Trophy voting. But he enjoyed a breakout season with the Stars as their captain, with 34 goals and 79 points. Dallas also made it back into the playoffs for the first time since 2008, and Benn was also named to Canada’s gold-medal winning team at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Congrats to the Captain of the Dallas Stars, only 24 with a bright future ahead!

Professor Fate - Jun 25, 2014 at 2:15 PM

No L.A. player good enough to place higher than sixth? That’s completely ok with me. The Kings went through two of the six first-team starters, as well as two on the second team, on the way to the Cup.

100% of both the first- and second-team didn’t go to the finals. These awards are popularity contests. The one that really counts is the one you have to go out and take without having to care about getting votes to win.